JESS’
Banoffee Birthday Cake
Jess, one of our interns, is always bubbling with enthusiasm – ready to celebrate even the smallest of life’s achievements. She would bake you a cake for practically anything: finishing your book, remembering to walk the dog, making the perfect cup of tea… Her cakes are, in essence, a celebration, so if there ever was the most perfect way to mark another year of you, it would be her Banoffee Birthday Cake. The sweet, buttery biscuit base adds a great crunch, which contrasts with the soft banana sponge and velvety salted caramel buttercream – the queen of desserts, in a cake.
SERVES 10–12
For the biscuit base
210g digestive biscuits (roughly 14 biscuits)
110g unsalted butter
50g golden syrup
For the banana sponge
375g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
375g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
375g soft light brown sugar
6 medium eggs
½ tsp ground cinnamon
6 really ripe bananas (about 550g)
2 tsp vanilla extract
For the salted caramel buttercream
250g butter, softened
500g icing sugar
200g ready-made caramel or dulce de leche (we use Carnation Caramel)
1 tsp sea salt flakes
To decorate
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
2–3 digestive biscuits, broken into pieces
honeycomb or cinder toffee pieces
banana chips
walnuts, hazelnuts or pecans
chocolate chips or buttons
extra ready-made caramel or dulce de leche
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line the base of three 20cm tins with baking paper. Dust the greased edges of the tins with a little flour, tapping out any excess.
Start with the biscuit base. Put the digestive biscuits into a sealable plastic food bag and use a rolling pin to crush them until there are no big chunks of biscuit left.
Gently melt the butter in the microwave or in a small saucepan over a low heat and stir into the biscuit mixture, along with the golden syrup. Mix together until the mixture resembles wet sand and sticks together well.
Tip the biscuit mixture into one of the lined tins and firmly press it down with the back of a spoon to create an even biscuit base – it’s really important to form a solid base for the cake, to prevent it crumbling when it comes out of the tin. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to set firm.
Next, make the banana sponge. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together using a spatula or an electric mixer until it is pale, light and fluffy. Slowly mix in the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated, then add the flour and cinnamon and gently fold in using a spatula or spoon.
Mash the bananas using a fork or potato masher and gently mix into the cake batter.
Spoon the batter into the tins, filling them about two-thirds full, and spread them level with a spatula. The tin with the biscuit base should have slightly less mixture in than the other two, so that they’re all the same height.
Bake for 25–30 minutes until the sponge is springy to the touch and an inserted skewer comes out clean. Leave in the tins until completely cool.
Meanwhile, make the buttercream. In a large bowl, beat the butter using a spatula or electric mixer until it is slightly lighter in colour. Add the icing sugar, a spoonful at a time, mixing between each addition until it’s all incorporated (this will give you a smooth buttercream and avoid too much mess). Stir in the caramel and sea salt and mix to a creamy consistency.
When the sponges are completely cool, carefully turn them out of the tins. The biscuit base may break a little at the edges, but don’t worry – it should stay bonded to the sponge. Trim the domed tops off the sponges with a bread knife to make them flat.
Place a cake board or serving plate on a turntable or work surface (see tip here) and smear a little buttercream on the top. This buttercream will act as ‘glue’ and stop the cake from sliding around. Peel off the baking paper from the sponge layers and place the biscuit/sponge layer, sponge-side up, on the cake board or plate. Spread a quarter of the buttercream on the top, pushing it just over the edge.
Place a second sponge layer on top of the buttercream, cut-side down. Spread another quarter of the buttercream on the top of this second layer, pushing it just over the edge.
Place the third sponge layer on top, cut-side down. Spread another quarter of the buttercream on the top of this layer, pushing it just over the edge.
Spread the final quarter of the buttercream around the sides of the cake, until the whole cake is covered in an even layer of buttercream and any gaps are filled. Place a bench scraper at a 90-degree angle against the side of the cake (see tip here) and turn the turntable (or your plate) to smooth the sides flat and create a patchy or ‘naked’ look to the icing on the sides of the cake. (Don’t worry if you push some buttercream onto the top of the cake).
To finish the cake with a smooth, 90-degree angle on the top, use a palette knife to neatly drag the top edge of buttercream into the middle of the cake.
To decorate, mark out a Luminary crescent moon shape on the top of the cake using the ground cinnamon, tapering off the ends – this will be your guide for the rest of the toppings. Place chunks of the the digestive biscuits at intervals around the crescent shape, with the largest pieces at the widest section of the moon and smaller pieces towards the ends. Repeat with the honeycomb pieces and then the banana chips, spacing them evenly and keeping the ends of the moon shape tapered. Use the nuts and chocolate chips to fill in any spaces. Finally, drop or pipe small splodges of caramel into any remaining gaps.
